{"id":1046250,"date":"2026-06-24T03:11:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T03:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1046250\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T03:11:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T03:11:32","slug":"lucas-digne-helps-france-into-world-cup-knockouts-as-aston-villa-watch-on-read-aston-villa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1046250\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucas Digne Helps France Into World Cup Knockouts As Aston Villa Watch On &#8211; Read Aston Villa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Lucas Digne started for France as Didier Deschamps\u2019 side beat Iraq 3-0 and secured their place in the World Cup Round of 32 with a game to spare.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Aston Villa left-back was named in the France XI for Monday\u2019s Group I match, with the victory moving France onto six points from two fixtures. For Villa, it is another useful summer signal: one of Unai Emery\u2019s senior defenders is getting meaningful tournament minutes in a side already into the knockout phase.<\/p>\n<p>Villa confirmed Digne\u2019s involvement and France\u2019s progression in an <a href=\"https:\/\/avfc.co.uk\/news\/2026\/june\/23\/internationals-digne-lines-up-for-france\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">official international update<\/a>, noting that the result secured safe passage from the group.<\/p>\n<p>Digne\u2019s France Role Matters For Villa<\/p>\n<p>This is not just a passing international note. Digne\u2019s minutes arrive before a demanding Villa season that includes Premier League, Champions League and UEFA Super Cup commitments, so rhythm and sharpness will matter when Emery\u2019s squad regroups.<\/p>\n<p>A knockout run also keeps Digne in competitive football deeper into the summer. That can complicate rest windows, but it also means the 32-year-old is operating under pressure rather than returning cold from a quiet break.<\/p>\n<p>For Villa supporters, the key takeaway is simple: Digne remains trusted by France at a major tournament, and his match fitness is being tested at exactly the level Emery will want from his senior players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lucas Digne started for France as Didier Deschamps\u2019 side beat Iraq 3-0 and secured their place in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1046251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5309],"tags":[135905,241805,2000,299,36],"class_list":["post-1046250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-avfc","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-france"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116802898626201580","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1046251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}